Herbed Flatbread -- a food adventure from Leslie Budewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Who loves crispy bread topped with flavorful herbs? Who loves it even more topped with cheese? All hands raised in my house!

I’d been tempted to make this for a while, but when I see an easy recipe from King Arthur, I moved the plan to the front burner. Or rather, to the very hot oven. Seriously, this recipe calls for an oven so hot it rivals the heat of the self-cleaning cycle, so get your tongs and heaviest oven pads out. But that’s the only thing daunting about this recipe.

The recipe makes 4 rounds, so we were able to try 3 different herb toppings. I used a za’atar and a dukkah, both Middle Eastern blends, from Savory Spice, and a dukah from World Spice. (We also love both their za’atars, but were out.) The WS dukah may have been our favorite, but we loved them all. Try what you have or think you’ll most enjoy. The herb and cheese toppings, as written, are enough for all 4; reduce amounts as needed. The dough keeps several days in the fridge and freezes nicely, but I suggest making the toppings fresh.

We live in Montana’s Flathead Valley, so if I call this flathead instead of flatbread, forgive me. Flathead Flatbread has a nice ring, doesn’t it?

One option, the last one we tried, includes a cheese topping. Mr. Right has been experimenting with ChatGpT for research on a medical treatment he’s curious about (for a patient). One afternoon, I walked into his office and said I wanted to make the last of the flatbreads with dinner, and thought I might try the cheese topping. He looked amused – cheese can do that – and then a posh male British accent replied, from his computer, saying cheese tacos for dinner sounded good.

So I give you Flathead Flatbread, aka Cheese Tacos. 

What food adventures have you enjoyed lately?

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Herbed Flatbread, aka Flathead Flatbread and Cheese Tacos

Adapted from King Arthur Baking Company

For the dough:

2 cups plus 1 tablespoon unbleached bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

3/4 cup warm water 

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

For the herb topping:

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) za’atar, Dukah, or another spice blend for topping 

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon table salt, optional* (omit if your blend contains salt)

For the cheese topping (optional): 

2 garlic cloves, minced or grated

1 scant tablespoon white or yellow onion, grated

2 cups low-moisture mozzarella, grated

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon dried mint, crushed

For the dough: 

Using the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, salt, yeast, and sugar with a spoon. Gradually add the water, continuing to mix by hand until a shaggy dough forms. 

Place the bowl on the stand, attach the dough hook, and knead on medium-high until smooth and slightly sticky, about 3 minutes.

Oil the bottom and lower third of a small mixing bowl. Using your hands, shape the dough into a ball. Place the ball in the oiled bowl, flipping it to oil the dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a plate. Let dough rise until about doubled, roughly 45 minutes.

Place dough on a clean work surface and divide into four parts. Shape each into a ball. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, another 45 minutes.

Place your baking steel or stone in the lower third of your oven, removing upper racks to make reaching in and out easier and safer. Preheat oven to 550°F. 

Make the herb topping: 

In a small bowl, combine the spices and olive oil, along with the salt if you’re using it.

Make the cheese topping: 

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, onion, cheese, olive oil, and dried mint. 

Roll the dough:

Lightly flour a cutting board or silicon work surface. Place a ball of dough on the flour and dust the top with flour. Press ball to flatten, then roll into a 9" round. Rotate if needed to create an even round and prevent sticking. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Repeat with other balls, if you are baking them now. 

Spoon one quarter of the herbed oil on the dough and spread or brush almost to the edges, leaving about a 1/4 inch border.

With Savory Spice Za'atar

With Savory Spice Dukah

Use a peel or a thin baking sheet and a wide spatula to transfer the dough to the baking steel or stone. 

Bake 3 to 4 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown; some bubbles and char are fine. If your dough seems sticky, use tongs to rotate for even cooking.

With Savory Spice Za'atar

With Savory Spice Dukah 

If using the cheese topping, bake the bread for 2 minutes, add about half a cup to the bread, spread quickly, and bake 2 minutes more. 

With World Spice Dukah and Cheese Topping

Remove the bread from the oven using tongs or your peel. Place on a cutting board and cool 3-4 minutes. Start the next round, if you’re baking more than one. Cut into wedges and serve. 

Storage:

Unbaked dough balls can be kept in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, for several days. Bring to room temperature, then bake as above.

To freeze, tightly wrap dough balls and freeze up to a month. To bake, thaw in refrigerator for several hours, then bring to room temperature and bake as above. 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.